Sponsors

Membership and Sponsorship

SPOT Membership

Want some help
disseminating your science? Become a SPOT Member.

Who can become a WV
SPOT Member?

STEM faculty or teams of researchers
located at any West Virginia college or university are eligible to become WV
SPOT members as an easy, low-cost, high-impact way to do outreach. SPOT is a
great way to fulfill Broader Impacts sections of large-scale STEM grants. Our
team will work with you to develop an outreach module about your science to
make sure it aligns with science content standards. We then help you train undergraduate
ambassadors to deliver the modules to K-12 schools. Teachers request SPOT modules
through our online request form, then the SPOT schedulers coordinate the visit
logistics. At the end of the year, we compile evaluation and reporting data for
you!

Membership Benefits

Assistance
with outreach and dissemination statements during proposal writing,
including a Letter of Support or Collaboration.

Expert
review of presentation to ensure quality and coherence with Science
Standards. The SPOT team will also help codify exactly how the
presentation meets Science Standards.

Assistance
with recruitment and training of ambassadors who are able to deliver the
feature presentation.

Advertisement
of presentation on WV SPOT website and in promotional materials to WV
Educators.

Evaluation
reporting data (including numbers of schools reached, presentations given,
students and teachers reached by grade level and location; ambassador
impressions of their visits and the types of questions asked; teacher
evaluation of how engaged students seemed and how worthwhile the
presentation was for their students)

To increase awareness of [our science],
we will invest in education and outreach through the existing program the West
Virginia STEM Public Outreach Team (WV SPOT). Adapted from an outreach model
with over two decades of success in reaching a wide array of audiences in
Montana, WV SPOT recruits and trains undergraduate ambassadors to deliver
STEM-themed presentations to K-12 schools throughout the state (Williamson et
al, 2014). Presentations feature current, local, cutting-edge science and
advertise other STEM engagement programs that students can join, giving the
message that “you can be part of science right here and right now.” The program
reaches an average of 4,000 students and teachers per year, increasing the
scientific literacy and 21st-century skills of ambassadors, and
increasing exposure of K-12 students to STEM and college role models.

This grant will provide funds to purchase
WV SPOT membership, allowing our broader impacts efforts to “plug in” and
leverage the program’s existing advertising, recruiting, training, and
management mechanisms. We will fund a [graduate student liaison, postdoc, or
other] to develop a feature presentation to showcase [our science] (NOT
included in WV SPOT membership). In return for membership, the WV SPOT program
provides peer review and advice on the presentation to ensure that it meets Next
Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead State, 2013) and is relevant to
West Virginia K-12 audiences, as indicated in the attached letter of commitment
(a representative from SPOT will provide a letter). Once certified, our feature
presentation will become an option for educators to request for their students
through the WV SPOT web interface. Membership funds also include ambassador
recruitment (ex: posters and talks in outreach seminars and clubs at West
Virginia colleges and universities), ambassador training (ex: meeting travel
and logistical planning), and management coordination (ex: scheduling
ambassador visits to schools). With this support level, a typical WV SPOT presentation
reaches 1,000 K-12 students and teachers per year, a large portion of whom are
part of rural, low-income communities and represent potential first-generation
college-goers. Finally, SPOT membership includes important evaluation data and
graphics to track and represent program impacts (including number of schools
reached, number of presentations given, number of students and teachers reached
by grade level and location, ambassador impressions of visits, and teacher
evaluations of visits).

Depending on the needs of your grant, we
can work with you to determine an appropriate budget. While there is variation
in the activity levels of different ambassadors, a rule of thumb for a single
ambassador is $1,000 per year to deliver an average of 4 presentations to 250
students. This covers the range of programmatic costs including training,
travel, honorarium, management, and evaluation. We require a minimum Membership
fee of $5,000 per year.

SPOT Sponsorship

Who can become a WV SPOT
Sponsor?

West Virginia businesses, companies, or individuals who would
like to have greater community impact and visibility, especially in STEM fields,
can become a WV SPOT sponsor. Being a WV SPOT Sponsor means investing in West
Virginia students and teachers at all levels. By sponsoring our ambassadors’
training, you are helping West Virginia college students develop science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competency and communication skills. Our
ambassadors have a wide range of skills and are enthusiastic and driven. If
your organization is looking for new talent, WV SPOT sponsorship could be an
excellent way to find good future employees. By sponsoring trips to schools, you
are helping to increase the exposure of K-12 students to college role models
and STEM opportunities that they can join. Without your sponsorship, schools
pay $50 for the WV SPOT team to come to their school. If your area is particularly
under-resourced, your sponsorship could be that much more important!

Sponsorship Annual Levels

Level 1: $1000

Logo or name displayed on the last
slide of all SPOT presentations

Verbal acknowledgement of
gratitude for sponsorship by ambassadors to audience